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ANNA MILLER

Seniors get into a van at the Northampton Senior Center to travel to a rally in Springfield to support legislation calling for expanded access to health care. From left, Jackie Ballance of Northampton holds signs, as Marilyn Sidwell, Arky Markham and Frances Crowe, all of Northampton, get into the vehicle.

NORTHAMPTON - Yvonne Freccero went 80 years without attending a political rally- until Wednesday.

Freccero, a Northampton resident, broke her streak, got in the van sitting outside the Northampton Senior Center and stood in the misty rain Wednesday afternoon to support the creation of a national, single-payer health care system for all Americans.

She was among the 80 people who turned out at U.S. Rep. Richard Neal's Springfield office to press him for a meeting and encourage him to support HR676, the "Improved Medicare for All Act."

"The only solution to health care is a single-payer plan," said Freccero, president of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals Inc., a nonprofit that runs the city's Interfaith Cot Shelter.

"This is the first rally I've ever been active in," Freccero said. "I'd like every child in the United States to be born with health care."

Americans spent about $2.4 trillion on health care in 2007 - 4.5 times what was spent to support the military that year, according to the most recent information available from the National Coalition on Health Care, a 19-year-old Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to affordable health care.

In 2008, the average premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four was nearly $12,700. For single coverage, the average was more than $4,700, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's "Employee Health Benefits: 2008 Annual Survey." The same report concluded that the primary reason 46 million Americans are uninsured is the cost of insurance.

Neal, who has been the focus of several rallies seeking to pressure him to support the bill, did not meet with protesters. But in a statement, he pledged to seek the creation of a health care plan that offers coverage for all Americans.

"I am committed to passing real health care reform legislation this year," Neal said in the statement. "The American people simply cannot afford to wait any longer. As the debate in Congress resumes, I look forward to continuing my work with President Obama and the leadership in Congress to make health care affordable and accessible for every American."

The bill, introduced in January and now in committee, is co-sponsored by 77 members of Congress - several from Massachusetts, including John W. Olver, D-Amherst.

Tim Carpenter of Northampton, the rally's organizer for Progressive Democrats of America, vowed to continue holding rallies outside Neal's office and events attended by the congressman until he meets with protesters.

"We're going to continue," Carpenter said. "Let him know we're still pushing for that meeting."

The "Improved Medicare for All" bill would provide free health care for all citizens, paid for using four sources: existing government health care revenue, increasing personal income taxes on the top 5 percent of income earners, instituting a tiered excise tax on payroll and self-employment income, and instituting a tax on stock and bond transactions, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the Library of Congress.

Under the plan, which would be phased in over five years, patients could choose their doctors. Private health care insurers would be prohibited from selling health insurance coverage that duplicates the benefits provided under the bill.

Health care "should be a social responsibility, not a moneymaking scheme," said Marilyn Sidwell, an 81-year-old woman from Northampton who attended Wednesday's rally along with 12 other city senior citizens. They rode in a van provided and driven by Mike Florio, executive director of Western Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.

"It's time to take the profit out of the health care business," Sidwell added.